


My Salvation

by Sparklez112



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: F/F, I love Safty and Mosanna though I promise, In this book their boyfriends don't exist, Rofiya, very gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-06-30 12:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19853293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparklez112/pseuds/Sparklez112
Summary: Rosanna is ready to do anything she can to help Joey save the town of Everlock.She meets someone new along the way, and she can't help but loose focus in the task at hand.They say you need to live a little before you die, right?





	1. Introductions (and dessert!)

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This is in universe shipping only. I do not ship Rosanna with Safiya romantically in real life (definitely platonically though!)
> 
> Now that Season 4 is airing I'm way back into the series. I started writing this and couldn't stop, I hope you all enjoy the first chapter. Let me know if there are any Rofiya shippers in the comments!

“Mat!”

A big smile crept onto the Jet-Setter’s face as she ran up to hug her friend. She basically tackled him to the ground despite how small she was compared to him, but Mat was laughing warmly. 

“Hey Ro.” He managed to speak after Ro stopped squeezing him so hard.

Mat looked around warily at his surroundings. The only unique characteristic of this area was a random rotting tree, which really wasn’t unique at all since they were standing in the middle of the woods. There was no sign of a town, or of Joey for that matter.

“I guess you and I are the first ones here then.”

Rosanna finally dropped the embrace and looked at her friend.  
“Yes we are. Are you ready for an adventure?”

The Detective smirked. “You know it.”  
He couldn’t help but steal another glance at the surrounding area, “But are you sure this is where we’re supposed to meet?”

“Nope!” Rosanna announced, still peppy. Mat started laughing: even when she was unsure, Rosanna was still unabashedly cheerful. He loved that about her and hoped it would never change. 

“I really miss Joey, so I got here at ten o’clock hoping that I’d be able to catch up with him. When I got to these woods I started walking around looking for a town, but there _is_ no town anywhere near here. I even climbed a tree to check the surroundings and I almost ruined my outfit which would've been awful because nobody had even seen me at that point because I couldn’t find Joey anywhere and I was also really hungry which made things even worse-”

“Ro, take a breath.” Mat cut off her sentence. He watched her do a little shakedown to collect herself, which was even cuter then it sounded. 

“We’ll see Joey soon. It sounds like he has a lot on his plate right now if he’s inviting a bunch of YouTubers to help save some town. Wait, if you got here at ten that means you’ve been here for-”

“Four hours.” Rosanna answered.

“You must be tired.”

The Jet-Setter shook her head. “Joey’s worth it. Besides, before coming here I made these really yummy energy bites with flax seeds which really helped while I was walking around.”

“Rosanna Pansino: Baker extraordinaire.” Mat joked. 

Ro rolled her eyes playfully, giggling.  
“Maybe I shouldn’t bring up that I brought some cookies and some blueberry tarts if you get hungry?”

“That doesn’t really help your case, no.” He watched as Rosanna dug around in the pile of browned leaves beneath their feet. The crunching sound she made as she shuffled them around reminded him of autumn. 

“Ta-dah!” She spun around suddenly, revealing three tupperware containers containing perfectly baked sweets. Well, two were full of beautiful desserts. One was empty.

Mat squinted his eyes. “Why’d you bring an empty one?”

The Jet-Setter fixed her gaze to the crunchy autumn leaves on the ground and swayed slightly. “I told you, I got real hungry…”

Mat shook his head, bridging the gap between him and his friend. He grabbed the tupperware container on the top of the stack and snagged two cookies, handing one to Ro after she set down the rest of the desserts. He didn’t even bother to ask what kind of cookie it was: he knew it was going to be delicious anyways.

“Cheers to adventure?”

“To friendship.” Ro added, tapping her cookie against Matthew’s.

The Detective took a second to savour the heavenly flavours that were happening in his mouth.

“I’m really excited that we get to do this together.” Rosanna said after swallowing her own bite. “I think this is going to make us even closer. That makes me happy.”

As she stared up at him with her adorable puppy dog eyes that lit up like stars, Mat decided that as sweet as the cookie in his mouth was, Rosanna was sweeter.

The two chatted for a few minutes about what they thought the mission entailed and where Joey had been for the past few months. Just before Mat could convince Ro that they should look around some more for a proper meeting spot, other YouTubers arrived.

Among the first were Teala Dunn, Manny MUA and Colleen Ballinger, who looked like they all came together.

Ro gave out another big hug to Colleen, and Colleen took the time to introduce her to the others. They both seemed really sweet and she couldn’t wait to get to know them. They complimented her blueberry tarts endlessly and Ro was overjoyed.

A few other new faces arrived. One of the YouTubers was named JC Caylen, and he came in riding a skateboard. He seemed really easygoing which managed to offset Ro’s endless energy somewhat. 

Right behind him was Roi Fabito. He had a completely new energy of his own: one that the Jet-Setter was excited to get to know.

Nikita Dragun rolled in, literally, on a pair of rollerskates. She was very outspoken which was a _little_ intimidating. But Ro also admired that confidence and was happy to offer a cookie to the blonde.

She was already having such a good time talking to everyone. Sometimes, it was easy to feel kept out of a loop in a conversation due to her height. People forgot that she was there.

But not this time. Everyone was laughing, sharing stories, wondering where Joey was every five minutes. 

And then the final guest arrived.

Rosanna’s breath hitched slightly as she saw her walking towards the group.  
It was slightly cliche with the way her dark hair was blowing in the wind. Her eyes were a crisp brown that were filled with determination. She was rolling her bike beside her, each step with purpose. 

Ro exhaled shakily. Cliches were her weakness.

“Did the adventure start without me?” Was the first thing she said, addressing the group.

“Almost, hunny.” Nikita sassed. Ro thought she was making a joke but wasn’t positive. The dark haired stranger seemed amused, anyways.

“What’s your name?” Manny asked. 

“Safiya Nygaard.”

Safiya. The name was burned into Ro’s mind. It was so pretty and unique: not pronounced with an o sound, but as in the word ‘Sapphire’. 

She couldn’t wait to get to know her. And she didn’t have to.  
Everyone took their turns introducing themselves to her, taking their time because Joey seemed to be doing the same.

When Safiya arrived to Ro’s spot in the circle of YouTubers, the Jet-Setter could see her eyes widen behind her blue tinted sunglasses.  
“Rosanna Pansino?”

“That’s me!’ Ro exclaimed, now feeling slightly bad that she’d never heard of Safiya before.

“Your channel’s great. This one time, I had to bake a cake for my friend Freddie’s birthday. I’m pretty sure I would’ve poisoned everyone if it weren’t for you.”

The Jet-Setter laughed. “I’m glad I could help.”  
She remembered the desserts sitting near her feet and hoped that the last of them hadn’t been snagged while she wasn’t looking. Luckily, there were still a few left.

“I baked some treats for everyone, you’re welcome to try some.”

Safiya delicately grabbed a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips dotted across. Rosanna watched intently for her reaction.  
Safiya closed her eyes for a few moments, opening them again after swallowing.

“Wow. You must have magical powers or something.”

‘I like to think I do.” Rosanna giggled. Safiya started laughing with her.  
Rosanna took a step closer to the taller girl, cupping her hand so that only Safiya could see what she was saying.

“I put Nutella in the batter. It makes everything better.”

“You’re so right.” Safiya agreed, thanking Ro for the treat. 

“What kind of content do you make, Safiya?”

The Investigative Reporter took a second to think. “A lot of different things, really. Hauls are pretty common, especially if makeup or fashion is involved. I like mixing a bunch of different makeups together to see the result, and I do a series called ‘Decades’ where we research the fashion of a specific year.”

“That’s so cool! That’s kind of like what we’re all doing right now! What do you think, do I match the seventies?”  
Saf looked her up and down.“The Seventies were very experimental and billowy. I’d say you’re definitely in line with that.”

Rosanna did a small turn to show off her outfit. “I’m ready to save this town and look good while doing it!”

Safiya’s lips curled into a smile. She took another big bite of her cookie before speaking again.  
“I wonder how this whole thing is going to play out. How can a town be stuck in the seventies?”

“I’m not sure.” Ro admitted, not having put much thought into it. “I just hope Joey’s okay and he gets here soon.”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.  
Hours passed, and there was still no sign of the person who invited them on this mission in the first place.  
People started getting cranky once the desserts were gone. 

Matpat built a fire using his glasses once it started getting darker. Everyone started huddling around it, getting increasingly annoyed and impatient.

The air was getting colder by the minute as the sun dropped lower and lower. Rosanna was thankful for her fuzzy green coat, and felt bad for Nikita who would probably turn into a human ice cube if it weren’t for the heat emitting from the flames.

After a few more rounds of everyone asking “Where’s Joey?”, he seemed to have finally gotten the message.

“JOEY!” Everyone yelled all at once, causing Rosanna to turn around.

There he was, behind her, with a huge grin on his face. “You guys came!”  
Joey went in for a hug with Safiya. Rosanna was definitely not letting him get away without one from herself. Seeing him, touching him with her own hands made her relieved and happy all at once.  
“You’re okay!” 

Everyone started talking at the same time.  
“We were really worried about you.” Safiya’s voice silenced the group. 

Mat asked for information on the town, which Rosanna thought was exactly like him. Down to business, down to the nitty gritty research questions. She would have liked some time alone with Joey like what she was planning during the morning, but he was okay and safe which was all that mattered. They’d have time to catch up later.

Joey started answering their questions. A brown bag that he was holding with a weird symbol on the front was apparently their ticket into the town trapped in the seventies.  
The bag contained some crystals and a vial of salt. If anything, they were more confused than when they had no directions to the town at all. 

Luckily, Safiya started reading a note explaining things. “Those who desire to go back in time and enter the town of Everlock must be inhabited by a spirit that once lived there.”

Or, maybe it didn’t explain anything. Okay.  
Were spirits even real? What was going on??

Despite their reservations, the YouTubers continued to follow the instructions. Salt was sprinkled in a circle around Mat’s fire. Glittering crystals were planted into the ground in a cluster. Everyone gathered together to hold hands.

Rosanna was starting to feel uneasy. Maybe it was the strange voodoo circle they just made, maybe it was all of the dessert she’d had that day. Either way, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong…

Joey started reciting a chant. “From across the veil of death, I request your presence, so I might make wrong things right.” Ro blinked a few times. There were blue wisps coming out of the fire and she genuinely couldn’t tell if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

“Enter into that I might see the doorway to Everlock.”

Blue smoke exploded from the fire, jetting out in every direction. Ro could feel it closing in on her like a strong wind that grew more powerful every second.  
Whatever the stuff was, it engulfed her. It almost felt like suffocation from the inside out.

And then it was gone.

The Jet-Setter hunched over, putting her hands on her knees to catch her breath. “What just happened?”

Then she could see a bridge. A bridge slowly being lit up -no, it was already lit up. The lights, and the whole bridge for that matter were appearing out of thin air. 

Red velvet curtains materialized at the end of the walkway. A big, bold sign read:

_The Town Of Everlock._

She took a look around at her friends, who seemed just as stirred up as she was. She was happy that nobody seemed to be hurt.

Joey didn’t say anything else. All he did was start to walk towards the bridge, towards the town that he had called them all to save.

The rest of the group followed.  
Taking steps closer to Everlock.  
Taking steps closer to their death.


	2. Crushes and Clowns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for some carnival fun!  
> It doesn't last long...

The crimson red curtains were getting closer and closer as the group walked onto the bridge reservedly. There was nervous and confused chatter amongst themselves.

Ro fell into step beside Joey, happy to have him next to her.  
Her mind was racing with possibilities as to what the town looked like behind the drapes. She pictured bustling streets with a quaint cafe, maybe even a drive through filled with old-fashioned cars. 

There might even be a theatre in town! They could all go together: Mat would sing show tunes the rest of the day and they could harmonise together. Colleen would love it too. She started wondering if Safiya would also like to-

A clown jumped from the curtains, headed straight for the group.  
Rosanna screamed, practically pulling Joey backwards ready to run away. The clown had wild purple hair and a smile that wasn’t welcoming in the slightest. 

“It’s your LUCKY DAY, because the CARNIVAL’S IN TOWN!” The clown spoke in a high-pitched voice, like a cartoon character would have.

Managing to tear her gaze away from the clown, she looked around at the others. Most of them seamed unsettled, except for Mat who looked slightly amused. Safiya didn’t looked fazed at all. 

She wondered what was going through her mind, and tried to get a clue by looking into her eyes. Her pretty, deep brown eyes…

The clown started talking again, and Ro was almost mad at the interruption. “We have a strong man, a snake woman, dolls with knives! It’s like bloody christmas everyday!’ Maniacal laughter erupted from the clown. 

“Ha, ha..” The group responded by laughing nervously. Rosanna decided that even if what the clown was describing sounded scary, they were about to walk into a carnival set in the seventies. It would definitely be fun! Even if there were scary parts, they could always avoid them. 

“Enjoy the ride!” The clown stepped aside, opening the curtain for them. It was a weird introduction for sure, but Ro thought it was pretty nice of the clown to give them an introduction at all.

The town was even cooler than the Jet-setter imagined. The carnival was in full swing, with a ferris wheel spinning and casting pretty lights over the area. There were circus performers, acrobats, games, even a woman with a spider in her mouth. 

She could smell fair food like funnel cake and nachos wafting in the air. Most importantly, everyone looked like they were having a good time.

Worries of being attacked by dolls with knives vanished from Ro’s conscious. All she wanted to do was to have some fun with her new friends. Maybe one friend in particular...

“Guys, free popcorn over here!” Mat was already munching away on the snack. He directed everyone to a vintage popcorn cart.  
The group split off, excited to dig into the carnival and all that it had to offer. 

Rosanna was having the time of her life. She watched as her friends played a bunch of different carnival games sprawled out around town. Joey managed to ring the bell on the strength tester games, and Mat won a pink pony named Blanche by tossing bean bags at small clown plushes that were rigged up. 

She was just about to sneak away to find the cotton candy vendor. Using her social skills, it was possible to convince the seller to let her use their machine and make some for everyone.

The dark haired girl in the brown leather coat made her stop in her tracks.

Safiya was leaning against the booth of a knock ’em down game, taking in her surroundings.

Ro took a small breath before walking up to her.  
“Are you enjoying the carnival?” The Jet-Setter asked, trying to put her hands on top of the booth. She ended up having to stand on her toes because she was too short.

“I am.” Safiya nodded, smiling a little bit. It wasn’t a big smile, and it faded quickly, but Rosanna enjoyed it for every second she got to see it. “I can’t believe we’re actually in the nineteen seventies right now.”

“Me neither.” The smaller girl agreed. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you: what’s your role here?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I’m the Investigative Journalist.’

“That sounds… really smart.” Ro looked down at her feet timidly for a second. “I think you and Mat are going to be great friends by the end of this mission.”

“Mat and I have talked a bit already. He seems very analytical… Have you two been friends for a while?”

Ro nodded enthusiastically. “We’ve known each other a long time. He’s really sweet, I’m so glad he got invited to this with us.”

“So, Rosanna, what’s your role? A painter?”

The Jet-Setter broke out into a fit of giggles. She thought she could see the beginning of a smile creeping onto Safiya’s lips. “Not exactly, even if the beret does kind of say ‘painter’ . Painting is really fun though! It’s kind of like decorating cakes.”

“I’m The Jet-Setter.” Rosanna threw her arms out dramatically, as if to present herself.  
“I may not be a Detective like Mat, or a Reporter like you…”

“Hey.” Safiya looked directly into Ro’s eyes. Ro felt herself freeze up.

“I haven’t known you for long, but I can tell that you care a lot about other people, Joey and Mat especially. You’ve really taken the time to get to know everyone here, and you even baked treats for everyone. Having those qualities can be just as helpful or even more important then analysis or observance.”

Ro was taken off guard. “I-” She looked down again to hide the blush creeping onto her cheeks  
“Thank you, Safiya.”

“You can call me Saf.”

“Saf. I can do that. Oh! And you can call me Ro.”

Saf smirked. “Deal.”

“Step right up to knock ‘em down! Hey, you two ladies wanna play? Five throws, free of charge!”  
A carnie with a booming voice dumped baseballs in front of the two girls.

Ro looked up at Safiya, who shrugged. “Why not?”

She picked up a ball from the counter, throwing it up a few times to get a sense of its weight.  
“You’ve got this, Saf!” Rosanna encouraged her friend.

Safiya started lobbing balls at bottles stacked into a pyramid shape on three shelves.She managed to knock quite a few of them down, leaving only one at the very top of the stack.

Then she turned to Ro, holding the last ball out to her.

Her eyebrows raised in confusion. “Oh, me? I don’t know if I can…” Even in her platform oxfords, the Jet-Setter was barely tall enough to see over the booth let alone throw a ball over it.

“You can do it.”

Ro looked at the ball, then back up at Safiya. The taller girl nodded reassuringly.  
She slowly grabbed the baseball from Saf’s hand. “Alright. Alright, I can do it.”

Taking a few steps back, Rosanna started bouncing a bit on her feet to get the height she needed to actually make the shot. She was having trouble finding the proper position to throw the ball in and kept shuffling around to find the right spot.

“Here. Like this.” 

Safiya stepped behind Ro, first putting her hands on her shoulders to stop her from fidgeting.  
Ro was surprised she didn’t melt into a puddle right then and there.  
Saf guided her arm backwards, positioning in so that her aim was in the right spot to hit the last bottle standing.

“Don’t take your eyes off the bottle. When you’re ready, aim high and throw hard.”

Ro didn’t even think she could hit a target five inches in front of her after everything Saf just did. She was lightheaded, and her face was burning, and was surprised she hadn’t fainted.

She tried to concentrate.  
_Okay. Focus Ro._

She made sure her grip was tight and firm.

_One._

She parted her feet a little wider.

_Two._

She took a deep breath.

_Three!_

Rosanna launched the ball towards the bottle with all of her might.  
Her shot hit the bottle smack in the middle, causing it to fall off of the shelf and onto the ground. 

“YES!” Ro raised her arms in triumph. “I did it!”

Without thinking, she turned and wrapped her arms around Safiya, pulling her into a hug.  
The reporter immediately tensed up, caught off guard by this. Rosanna dropped her hug after she sensed that. 

Still, when she let go Saf seemed happy. “Good job.”

“We have a winner!” The carnie yelled enthusiastically. “His name is Blueberry. Take good care of him.”

He passed a purple plush bulldog to Safiya. She thanked the carnie who went to chase down other passers-bys to convince them to play. 

“He’s so cute!” Ro smiled down at the dog.

“He’s yours.” 

Rosanna shook her head in disbelief as the dog was passed to her. She started unconsciously petting the plushes’ fur. “Are you sure?”

“Definitely. I’m more of a cat person anyways.”  
Not a smile, but a playful smirk reappeared on her features. It was a smirk that made Ro dizzy, that made her feel jittery inside in ways she couldn’t explain. 

“Did you notice anything off about the guy manning the game?” Safiya asked, “He seemed… happy. Almost too happy.”

“Oh.”  
She immediately regretted saying that the second the word flew out of her mouth.  
“Now that you say that, the guy who gave Blanche to Mat was really happy too. I just thought that everyone here really likes their jobs.” She added, trying to save herself.

Safiya was doing another scan of the carnival.  
“Something feels weird... I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon.”

“Ro, _Ro!_ ”  
Still by the popcorn cart, Mat was calling her over. Colleen and Roi were also there and waving wildly for her attention. 

“I guess they want to talk to me.. Do you want to come?”

Unfortunately, Safiya shook her head. “That’s alright. I think I’ll try doing some investigating on my own for a bit.” She slid the glasses that sat on top of her head back on.

“Talk to you soon, Ro.” With that, Safiya slinked away into a crowd of carnival goers, trying to blend in.  
Safiya would never be able to blend in for Rosanna.

The Jet-Setter headed over to talk to her other friends. Mat was still holding his pink horse as she got closer.  
“You won a prize too?!” Roi said once she got there. He seemed really interested in blueberry, looking at the plush from all angles. 

“Uh, yeah, kind of!” Rosanna laughed nervously.  
Mat grabbed her hand, pulling her closer to the booth between Roi and Colleen.  
“I have something to show you,” he pointed in the distance, “right over there.”

The group was facing the rest of the carnival. There were people devouring candy apples, waiting in line for skeeball, enjoying the carnival at their own pace. She didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

“What am I looking at?” Ro darted her head around, trying to find whatever Mat was talking about.

Colleen leaned in to whisper something.  
“Don’t look now, but there’s a creepy lady behind us. She’s acting real strange by staring at us, and won’t shut up about the stars.”

“Okay.” Ro spoke out loud, pretending to be very interested in a tree in the distance. She hoped the lady hadn’t caught on to them.

Mat decided to play along with the ruse. “We gotta, we gotta-”

“WOAH!”  
Roi jumped forward, spooked.  
“Sorry. She scared me.”

It seemed pointless to keep up the charade now. Rosanna turned around to get a look at the lady. She was wearing a really cute outfit with a pretty vintage skirt that had hanging golden accents fashioned on. If Colleen wasn’t so worried about her, she would’ve definitely complemented her outfit by now. 

Colleen mouthed the word “SHADY” to the rest of the YouTubers. Or it could have been “AED”. Ro hoped it was the former.

“Maybe we should talk to her?” Ro asked. The woman didn’t seem all that intimidating, and everyone else in this town was inviting so far, even the slightly off-putting clown. Plus, if there was anything actually off about her she’d be able to report it to Safiya.

“Yeah,” The Jet-Setter answered her own question, “I’m gonna talk to her.”

Nobody had time to object as Ro marched up to the woman. “Hello! Bonjour-”

“THE STARS.” The woman got up in Rosanna’s face, her eyes wide and wistful. She was immediately giving off all-knowing fortune teller vibes. Ro couldn’t decide if that was a good thing.

“The stars have been talking to me.” She continued, slowly pointing her hand towards the sky.

“So what are they saying?” Ro inquired. 

“All sorts of SECRETS.” 

The fortune teller-like lady was really serious. It was almost jarring compared to everyone else at the carnival, which really made Rosanna consider Safiya’s comment about everyone being overly perky. Nonetheless, these secrets seemed pretty intense…

“Are they friendship secrets, lighthearted secrets… dark secrets?” Judging by her face, it was easy for Ro to land on the last option.

“He’s coming…” 

The woman ominously reached out in front of herself, her eyes looking as if she was too wise for her own good.  
The group tried to coax who this mysterious ‘he’ was out of the woman, but she was suddenly extremely interested in Blueberry for some reason. Luckily before he could be puppy-napped, the woman walked away from them while whispering towards the sky. 

“That was a bust.” Colleen said dejectedly. 

“That was wild.” Roi added.

Even if they were all having fun before, there was no denying that something was up with the town of Everlock at this point. Roi and Colleen seemed wary and on edge.  
Ro glanced at Mat, who had his thinking face on. His eyebrows were furrowed slightly and his head was tilted sideways.

She really wanted to talk to Mat about things. About the mission at hand, about his theories (because everyone knows he’s all about his theories)...  
And maybe to talk about the others they met that day. Yeah. 

“Hey Mat,” She found it impossible not to smile up at him.

Her voice broke him out of her thoughts. The detective ruffled her hair affectionately. “What’s up? How’d you win Blueberry over here?”

“It’s a long story. Do you have time to talk for a bit? I also wanted to talk to you about the carnival, something seems…” Ro’s voice trailed off. She stole a glance from the fortune-teller lady. 

“Yeah.” Mat agreed. “Maybe we can talk on the ferris wheel. Nobody will be able to hear us from up there.”

“Matthew... are you suggesting the ferris wheel because it’s isolated, or just because you like riding the ferris wheel?”

“Both. Mostly the second one though.”

Rosanna laughed, of course Mat wanted to ride the ferris wheel. She couldn’t really tease him though, Rosanna loved rides as well and was pretty excited about it. It reminded her of going to Disneyland with her sister back home.  
With creepier undertones.

While absorbed in her thoughts of sharing churros with Molly while waiting in line for The Haunted Mansion, Mat started a conversation with a man they had met earlier.

His name was Mortimer. He seemed pretty laid back, and wanted everyone to enjoy the carnival. His mom was also the mayor of Everlock. 

“Buddy, any way you could get us a ride on the ferris wheel?”

“For sure. I’ll lead the way.”

Stuffed animals clutched in their arms, Mat and Ro followed Mortimer up to the carnival ride. The lights were even prettier now that the sun had completely set, giving MatPat a slightly purple glow from beside her.

They eagerly chatted as the stepped up to get into their cart. There was even a snuggly blanket, which Ro made sure to get cozy with. Mat cozied up next to her on the seat, but paper crinkled from under him as he sat down.

“There's a newspaper here.” A slightly confused Mat unfurled the paper as the ride started spinning.

There was a headline in big, bold letters written across the first page.  
“The Clowns Here Kill.”

Rosanna gasped as Mat read. “NO.”

“The Killer clown clan strikes again much to no one’s surprise. Four major players of the clan shown here. Be warned.” The picture depicted four clowns, one of which was the one who jumped out of the curtain to welcome them into Everlock.

Mat amd Ro looked at each other, panicked

_Not good! NOT GOOD!_

“HEY GUYS!” Mat yelled as loud as he could to his friends below. “DON’T TRUST THE CLOWNS!”

It was no use. Their cart was getting further and further from the ground. Ro tried her hand at yelling from them, but nobody could hear a word they were saying.  
Once they got to the very top of the wheel, the ride slammed to a halt.

“We’re stuck!” Ro exclaimed, fidgeting around in her seat. She wanted to get off and warn her friends that they were in trouble, and being suspended thirty feet in the air with the looming threat of killer clowns was definitely not what she signed up for. 

Because she was shifting her weight so much, the cart ended up swinging wildly.  
Ro screamed, gripping the cart tighter.

“Don’t lean forward.” Mat breathed, shaken up from the whole situation. 

“What do we do now?” Rosanna’s eyebrows were raised and her lips fell into a pout. 

“I’m trying to think…” Mat did another thorough scan of the cart, but there was nothing there to help them. They were trapped.

“Do you think that the clowns are the ‘he’ that the woman was talking about?” Rosanna wondered, taking another look at the headline.

“There seems to be multiple of them, so I’m leaning towards no. Looks like this town does need saving after all…”

The two spotted Joey walk up to a carnival booth with the killer clown behind it.  
Ro and Mat screamed, yelled, and even started waving their plushes’ around to warn Joey of the danger. 

“It’s no use Ro.” Mat frowned. 

She buried her face into her hands. “This is a disaster.”

The Detective put a supportive hand on her shoulder. “Hey, the clowns haven’t done anything yet. It’s possible that the newspaper is just to scare us or is some sort of prank.’

Rosanna sighed, trying to believe Matthew. She just couldn’t shake the notion that something bad was going to happen soon. 

“There’s no point in panicking, that isn’t going to help. Maybe we should just lay out what we know already.”

The Jet-Setter nodded, getting down to business. “Well, everyone here seems very happy. Like there isn’t anything wrong at all. But even at a carnival, I don’t think that level or happiness is normal, do you?”

“Wow, Ro. Now that you mention that, you’re completely right.”

“Saf brought it up to me while we were talking, I wouldn’t of noticed without her.” Rosanna looked down at the ground, trying to spot her friend. “If she were here right now she’d be such a big help, she went off to get more information after I stopped talking to her.”

“I didn’t realize you were so close to Safiya. Did you know her before coming here?”

“Oh, no. We just met today.” Rosanna admitted, willing herself not to blush. “She’s really nice. She helped me win Blueberry.”

“Wait, she won you a carnival game prize?” Mat raised an eyebrow.

“No, no!” She shook her head in disagreement. “It wasn’t like that. I think she was trying to make me feel better about myself.”  
Rosanna explained to him what happened at the knock ’em down booth earlier. Mat nodded every so often, listening intently to the story.  
“... So that’s how I found out about the overly happy people. After that, you called me over and she left.” She finished.

“From talking to her by the fire, she seems ready to figure this mission out. She also seems a little reserved, for a YouTuber anyways.” Mat paused, giving a long sideways glance to Rosanna.

“What do you think of her?”

Ro opened her mouth and shut it a few times. “I… don’t really know how I’m feeling towards her.” She finally managed.

“Oh?” Mat invited her to continue.

“She makes me feel-” The Jet-Setter tried to find the words, but she wasn’t really the best at voicing them. What she wanted to say got all jumbled up in her brain and she ended up just making crazy hand gestures for a while. Exasperated, she sighed deeply. 

“Hey,” Mat smiled softly. It was impossible for that not to cheer her up even the tiniest bit.  
“How about I say the words, and you can just nod if I say something that you feel?”

“Okay. I can do that.”

“Alright,” The Detective cleared his throat, “happy?”

Rosanna nodded vigorously. That one was easy.

“Jittery?”

A little less sure this time, she nodded again.

“Nervous?”

“Well, yes. But not in a bad way,” Rosanna elaborated, “It’s a kind of nervous that gives me a burst of energy. It makes me a little tongue-tied and conscious of everything that’s happening, but that’s good because when I’m with her I don't want to miss a thing. I feel it the most when I look into her eyes, or when she smirks.” Just thinking of it made her heart start to pump faster.

‘Does anything I’m saying make sense?” She turned to Mat for advice. 

“Mhmm,” He nodded slowly, “Do you think I can ask you another question?”  
“Of course, Mat.”

“Have you.. Have you ever had feelings for a girl before?” He blurted. 

“Uh!” Ro took a second to process the question.  
“No, I’ve never really had feelings like this for anyone before. Why? Do you think that’s what’s happening? Do I have feelings for Safiya?”

She was completely overwhelmed. _What did this mean? What does this lead to? What if Safiya doesn’t like me back? What if she does?!?_

“Ro.” He tried his hand at calming her again by looking into her eyes.  
“You don’t have to have everything figured out right away. You’ve only just met her tonight, after all. It’s completely up to you how you handle things from here, and I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”

Sat next to him on the seat of their cart, Rosanna curled into Mat’s side. “You’re the best, Mat. Thank you.”

A loud blow horn ruined the moment. The two jumped up, startled by the loud noise.  
On a balcony below, they spotted a figure with a megaphone in hand. _The mayor._

“How is that his mom?” Rosanna questioned, referring to Mortimer. “She looks fabulous. She doesn’t look old enough to be his mom.”

The mayor was smiling, exactly like all of the other townsfolk she”d met that day. “Thank you all for coming out to carnival! It’s our lifeblood.”

Everyone suddenly looked over at someone in the audience. It was none other then the fortune teller lady from before. Mat and Ro couldn’t really hear what she was saying, but it was clear she and the mayor were having some sort of scuffle. The mayor even referred to her as “gypsy trash” over the megaphone, which Rosanna thought was uncalled for.

There was a few seconds of silence.  
“Mat? What’s-”

Screams echoed throughout the entire carnival. Blood-curdling, gut-wrenching screams that made them want to claw their ears out.

“Mat!” Ro was seriously alarmed. She clung onto his arm for dear life, Mat doing the same with her.

“Nothing happened, everything’s fine,” The mayor insisted, “Just enjoy the carnival. Honestly! I-”  
The mayor was grabbed from behind and tossed over the side of the patio without a moment's hesitation. She landed on a stage below with a loud thud  
A clown stood on the balcony, his painted on face smiling at the scene in front of him.

_This isn’t happening.  
This isn’t happening._

Gunshots could be heard from below. Ro and Mat saw clowns emerging from behind the Town Hall, weapons in hand. They laughed hysterically as they got closer and closer to their friends still on the ground.

“I told you, the clowns!” Mat threw up the newspaper in frustration. 

Rosanna watched as the clowns started attacking.  
Several townspeople were shot, knocked out, or beaten with bats. Blood and corpses scattered around the carnival turning it into a place ripped from Ro’s nightmares.

Ro desperately wanted to help her friends.  
But she couldn’t. She was stuck on the top of a ferris wheel, powerless to do anything.  
Powerless to help Safiya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed!
> 
> Next time: Ro is a protective cinnamon roll, Safiya is a smart cookie. Will they be able to outmaneuver the clowns, or will they die trying?
> 
> Side note: The episode that aired today was great, I'm really loving S4 so far and I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Please put a spoiler warning if you're discussing spoilers though!

**Author's Note:**

> Next time: Rosanna tries to make sense of her feelings but is having trouble articulating things. Mat is patient and understanding, but the killer clowns that start attacking complicate matters a bit.


End file.
